A new (and non peer-reviewed) study conducted by online gambling company Royal Panda compared the IQ scores of video gamers on number of categories.
The company had a team of psychologists administer an online IQ test to a sample of 1,001 gamers.
The results will doubtless infuriate some, and assuage others.
IQ scores by gaming system: PC vs. PlayStation vs. Xbox vs. Nintendo vs. “mobile”
Their study revealed that PC gamers had the highest IQ scores among the gaming platforms tested, with an average IQ of 112.3.
Next came users of the PlayStation, whose average IQ was 110.7.
Xbox users took third place with an average IQ of 103.8, followed by Nintendo Switch users with 101.3.
In fifth and last place was the vague category of “mobile gamers,” who averaged 99.4 on the IQ test.
The test was broken down into four categories: verbal intelligence, mathematical ability, logical reasoning, and visual reasoning.
PC gamers took the top spots in verbal intelligence and mathematical ability, while PlayStation users won in logical reasoning and visual reasoning.
Xbox users took third place in all four categories, and pulling up the rear, again, were the Nintendo Switch users and “mobile gamers.”
IQ scores by choice of game: Rainbow Six Siege takes first place
The survey also ranked 15 popular games by their users’ IQ scores.
The winning game was Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege — its players had an average IQ score of 120.3.
They were followed close behind by players of Among Us (IQ of 118.9) and Minecraft (116.3).
In last pace were Sage Candy Crush (IQ of 96.4) and Angry Birds (95.8).
In between, in descending order, were: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (average IQ of 111.2), EA Sports FIFA (106.5), Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (105.8), Animal Crossing (104.8), Fortnite (103.6), Mariokart (99.9), Grand Theft Auto (99.6), Assassin’s Creed (99.6), and Rocket League (99.3).
Ranking IQ by operating system
The study also found that Android gamers have higher IQs than iOS (iPhone and iPad) gamers.
The average IQ score among study participants whose main mobile device runs on Android was 110.3, and the IQ score for iOS users was a mere 102.1.
On the other hand, the study also found that gamers who use Apple Mac computers had slightly higher IQ scores than Windows users (108.2 vs 106.7).
One explanation for this finding is that there are many more Windows users than Mac users.
In fact, the survey included six times more Windows users than Mac users. And that larger sample of Windows users might just be more accurately reflecting the great variety in IQ scores in general.
Female gamers smarter than male gamers
In addition, the study also revealed that female gamers had substantially higher IQ scores than male gamers.
The average IQ of the female gamers was 108.4, versus the male average of 102.3.
The female participants also got higher average scores on each of the four sub-scales: verbal intelligence, mathematical ability, logical reasoning, and visual reasoning.
The study does not indicate the ratio of male to female participants who took part in the research.
Likewise, it omits lots of other key demographic information that you would expect such a study to include.
For example, the study says nothing about the location, age, or education levels of its participants.
Nonetheless, despite its rather non-scientific nature (no peer review, no mention of the study’s authors or affiliations, no demographic information on the participants), this study is still an interesting look at some of the putative differences in intelligence between various groups of gamers.
In fact, the links between video games and intelligence have become a topic of increasing popularity in academic research over the past few years.
Perhaps other researchers will use this Royal Panda study as an impetus to conduct more serious research into this subject.
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Photo credit: Lyncconf.com, via Flickr; license: CC BY 2.0
